Characterisation of non-ideal flow behaviour in continuous casting tundish

The effect of a turbulence inhibitor and a curtain of rising bubbles on the flow pattern inside a continuous casting tundish have been experimentally evaluated using a water model. Water experiments were conducted using a two-fifths scale model of a typical strand tundish. Unlike previous studies, residence time distribution (RTD) curves were experimentally obtained in this work by first injecting a step change of an inert tracer (an aqueous NaCl solution) into the inlet stream and then detecting the response of the tracer inside the tundish at different water depths right above the outlet nozzle. A statistical expression based on the random walk model was used to represent and interpret the resulting experimental RTD curves in terms of the mean residence time θm and the Bodenstein or dispersion number Bo.